| 1999-2000 and 2001-2007 |
Mick Maurer in Manhattan
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Murray Hill 1999-2000, Lenox Hill 2001-2003, and Kips Bay/Curry Hill/Madison Square Park 2003-2005
In May 1999 Mick Maurer first moved to the Murray Hill neighborhood of
Manhattan. His roommates were Clem and Joey on East 36th near 2nd Avenue.
(East Midtown)
Murray Hill is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan that extends south from 42nd
Street to meet the neighborhood of Gramercy (or Rose Hill as the northern half of Gramercy is often
referred to) at 29th Street. Blocks on Lexington Avenue around 28th Street is sometimes known as "Curry
Hill", for the high concentration of Indian restaurants.
Its western border is at Fifth Avenue and eastern border now extends beyond Lexington Avenue, to meet
the distinct waterfront neighborhoods of Kips Bay and Tudor City at Second Avenue.
Murray Hill derives its name from the Murray family, 18th-century Quaker merchants mainly concerned with
shipping and overseas trade. Robert Murray (1721-1786), the family patriarch, was born in Pennsylvania
and came to New York in 1753 after a short residence in North Carolina. He quickly established himself
as a merchant, eventually owned more shipping tonnage than any other New Yorker. About 1762 rented
land from the city for a great house and farm. His great house, which he named Inclenberg (or Belmont),
but which was popularly termed Murray Hill, was built on a since-leveled hill at what is today Park Avenue
and Thirty-Sixth Street. The great square house was approached by an avenue of mixed trees leading from
the Boston Post Road; it was surrounded with verandahs, or "piazzas", on three sides and commanded
views of the East River over Kip's Bay. The total area was just over 29 acres (117,000 m²). In today's terms,
the farm began a few feet (metres) south of 33rd Street and extended north to the middle of the block
between 38th and 39th Streets. At the southern end, the plot was rather narrow but at the northern end it
went from approximately Lexington Avenue to a spot between Madison and Fifth Avenues.
The most illustrious member of the family was the oldest child, Lindley Murray (1745-1826). A New York
lawyer, he was forced into exile after the Revolution as a loyalist, settling in York, England, where there
was a Quaker community. In England, Lindley began writing school textbooks. He wrote 11 of them,
beginning in 1798, and became the largest-selling author in the world in the first half of the nineteenth
century. His textbooks were widely printed in Britain (particularly his English Grammar) but had their
greatest success in the new United States, partly because no international copyright agreement existed
and the books could be reprinted without royalties being paid. Some 16 million copies of Murray's books
were sold in America and another 4 million in Britain. His most popular work was his English Reader, full
of selections from the liberal-minded writers of the Scottish Enlightenment, most notably the Rev. Hugh
Blair. Abraham Lincoln praised the "English Reader" as "the best schoolbook ever put in the hands of an
American youth." The English Reader utterly dominated the American market for readers for over a
generation from 1815 into the 1840s. It was replaced mainly by the McGuffey Readers, a series of reading
texts, which began to appear in 1836.
Mary Lindley Murray is credited with delaying William Howe and his army during General Washington's
retreat from New York in 1776. As the story goes, Mrs. Robert Murray invited the group to tea at her
mansion in Inclenberg (now Murray Hill), and, through feminine wiles, succeeded in delaying the British
troops for a period sufficient to allow a successful American retreat. Although a further British advance may
have been disastrous for the Americans, the legends arising from the incident--with Mrs. Murray playing
the role of Circe or a Siren--are probably apocryphal. Evidence suggests the delay at Murray Hill was
according to a prearranged British plan.
The standard work on the Murray family is "The Murrays of Murray Hill" (Brooklyn: Urban History Press,
1998) by Charles Monaghan.
During the nineteenth century, this neighborhood was "uptown" with the city ending with the reservoir at
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street covering what today is the New York Public Library and Bryant Park. To the
north was for the most part farmland. When J. P. Morgan built his home on Madison Avenue at 36th Street,
which is today a part of the Morgan Library, it was considered a fashionable uptown address. Madison
Square Park, at this time considered a part of Murray Hill was bordered by the fashionable ladies' shops of
the day on Fifth Avenue.
The district is also home to the United Nations, hundreds of missions and diplomatic residences, and six
major hospitals and medical centers – Bellevue, Beth Israel, Cabrini, Hospital for Joint Diseases
Orthopedics Institute, Veterans' Administration (Manhattan Campus) and NYU School of Medicine and
Hospital – and numerous substance abuse, mental health and ambulatory care clinics.
Manhattan. His roommates were Clem and Joey on East 36th near 2nd Avenue.
(East Midtown)
Murray Hill is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan that extends south from 42nd
Street to meet the neighborhood of Gramercy (or Rose Hill as the northern half of Gramercy is often
referred to) at 29th Street. Blocks on Lexington Avenue around 28th Street is sometimes known as "Curry
Hill", for the high concentration of Indian restaurants.
Its western border is at Fifth Avenue and eastern border now extends beyond Lexington Avenue, to meet
the distinct waterfront neighborhoods of Kips Bay and Tudor City at Second Avenue.
Murray Hill derives its name from the Murray family, 18th-century Quaker merchants mainly concerned with
shipping and overseas trade. Robert Murray (1721-1786), the family patriarch, was born in Pennsylvania
and came to New York in 1753 after a short residence in North Carolina. He quickly established himself
as a merchant, eventually owned more shipping tonnage than any other New Yorker. About 1762 rented
land from the city for a great house and farm. His great house, which he named Inclenberg (or Belmont),
but which was popularly termed Murray Hill, was built on a since-leveled hill at what is today Park Avenue
and Thirty-Sixth Street. The great square house was approached by an avenue of mixed trees leading from
the Boston Post Road; it was surrounded with verandahs, or "piazzas", on three sides and commanded
views of the East River over Kip's Bay. The total area was just over 29 acres (117,000 m²). In today's terms,
the farm began a few feet (metres) south of 33rd Street and extended north to the middle of the block
between 38th and 39th Streets. At the southern end, the plot was rather narrow but at the northern end it
went from approximately Lexington Avenue to a spot between Madison and Fifth Avenues.
The most illustrious member of the family was the oldest child, Lindley Murray (1745-1826). A New York
lawyer, he was forced into exile after the Revolution as a loyalist, settling in York, England, where there
was a Quaker community. In England, Lindley began writing school textbooks. He wrote 11 of them,
beginning in 1798, and became the largest-selling author in the world in the first half of the nineteenth
century. His textbooks were widely printed in Britain (particularly his English Grammar) but had their
greatest success in the new United States, partly because no international copyright agreement existed
and the books could be reprinted without royalties being paid. Some 16 million copies of Murray's books
were sold in America and another 4 million in Britain. His most popular work was his English Reader, full
of selections from the liberal-minded writers of the Scottish Enlightenment, most notably the Rev. Hugh
Blair. Abraham Lincoln praised the "English Reader" as "the best schoolbook ever put in the hands of an
American youth." The English Reader utterly dominated the American market for readers for over a
generation from 1815 into the 1840s. It was replaced mainly by the McGuffey Readers, a series of reading
texts, which began to appear in 1836.
Mary Lindley Murray is credited with delaying William Howe and his army during General Washington's
retreat from New York in 1776. As the story goes, Mrs. Robert Murray invited the group to tea at her
mansion in Inclenberg (now Murray Hill), and, through feminine wiles, succeeded in delaying the British
troops for a period sufficient to allow a successful American retreat. Although a further British advance may
have been disastrous for the Americans, the legends arising from the incident--with Mrs. Murray playing
the role of Circe or a Siren--are probably apocryphal. Evidence suggests the delay at Murray Hill was
according to a prearranged British plan.
The standard work on the Murray family is "The Murrays of Murray Hill" (Brooklyn: Urban History Press,
1998) by Charles Monaghan.
During the nineteenth century, this neighborhood was "uptown" with the city ending with the reservoir at
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street covering what today is the New York Public Library and Bryant Park. To the
north was for the most part farmland. When J. P. Morgan built his home on Madison Avenue at 36th Street,
which is today a part of the Morgan Library, it was considered a fashionable uptown address. Madison
Square Park, at this time considered a part of Murray Hill was bordered by the fashionable ladies' shops of
the day on Fifth Avenue.
The district is also home to the United Nations, hundreds of missions and diplomatic residences, and six
major hospitals and medical centers – Bellevue, Beth Israel, Cabrini, Hospital for Joint Diseases
Orthopedics Institute, Veterans' Administration (Manhattan Campus) and NYU School of Medicine and
Hospital – and numerous substance abuse, mental health and ambulatory care clinics.
After a year in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Mick Maurer then moved with Manos Gioxaris to the
Lenox Hill neighborhood of Manhattan from 2001-2003. (Upper East Side)
Lenox Hill is a neighborhood of Manhattan.
The community was named for the farm of Robert Lenox, who owned property from what is now 68th to 74th streets, between
Fifth and Park avenues.
The neighborhood is on the Upper East Side Bounded by East 77th Street, Lexington Avenue, East 60th Street and 5th Avenue.
This area is filled with many luxury apartment buildings, both co-ops and condos, as well eye-catching townhouses. The
elegant and sophisticated neighborhood also has many first rate restaurants and shops on Lexington Avenue as well as
boutiques, art galleries and hotels on Madison Avenue. The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Asia Society and the Frick
Collection are all major cultural attractions located in the heart of Lenox Hill.
A long high bluff fronting the river north of Beekman Place was dotted with fine suburban villas in the 19th century, the last
remaining one being Gracie Mansion, now home of New York's mayors.
The Upper East Side is also notable as a significant source of political fundraising in the United States. Four of the top five zip
codes in the nation for political contributions are in Manhattan. The top ZIP Code, 10021, is on the Upper East Side and
generated the most money for the 2004 presidential campaigns of both George W. Bush and John Kerry.
Madison Avenue from 60th Street well into the 80s is the monied crowd's main shopping strip, recently vaulting ahead of Hong
Kong's Causeway Bay to become the most expensive retail real estate in the world. Zip code 10021 has the highest
concentration of stores in the United States with more than $1 million in annual sales each.
Founded in 1898, and affiliated with what is now NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital since 1927, Weill Medical College of Cornell
University is among the top-ranked clinical and medical research centers in the country. In addition to offering degrees in
medicine, Weill Cornell also has PhD programs in biomedical research and education at the Weill Graduate School of Medical
Sciences, and with neighboring Rockefeller University and the Sloan-Kettering Institute, has established a joint MD-PhD
program for students to intensify their pursuit of Weill Cornell's triple mission of education, research, and patient care.
Founded by John D. Rockefeller, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research was incorporated on June 14, 1901. It was the
first institution in the United States devoted solely to biomedical research--to understanding the underlying causes of disease.
Today, renamed Rockefeller University, it is one of the foremost research centers in the world, contributing to 23 Nobel Prizes
as well as numerous other awards.
In its first century of accomplishment, Rockefeller was a leader in basic scientific research and graduate education. Among
their many breakthroughs, world-renowned scientists at Rockefeller have
• Discovered that genes are made of DNA.
• Found the Rh factor in blood.
• Pioneered the physiology and chemistry of vision.
• Demonstrated the connection between cholesterol and heart disease.
• Developed vaccines against meningitis.
• Introduced methadone to manage heroin addiction.
• Discovered that distribution of proteins to various cellular compartments is accomplished by a "ZIP code" system.
After John D. Rockefeller's grandson died from scarlet fever in January 1901, the capitalist and philanthropist moved to
formalize plans for the research center he had been discussing for three years with his advisor Frederick T. Gates and his son
John D. Rockefeller Jr. At first, the Rockefeller Institute awarded grants to study, among other health concerns, bacteria
contamination in New York City's milk supply. After two years in temporary quarters, laboratories were opened in 1906 on the
site of the former Schermerhorn farm at York Avenue (then called Avenue A) and 66th Street.
In 1955, Rockefeller expanded its mission to include education, admitting its first class of graduate students. It granted its first
doctoral degrees in 1959. In 1965, The Rockefeller Institute became The Rockefeller University, broadening its research
mandate further. In the early 1960s, new faculty with expertise in physics and mathematics came to Rockefeller. In 1972, the
University began its collaboration with Cornell University to offer graduate students an M.D.-Ph.D. program. Later, the Sloan-
Kettering Institute became a partner in the program.
Hunter College, located in the heart of bustling Manhattan, is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY)
system. Founded in 1870, Hunter is also one of the oldest public colleges in the country. Currently, 21,000 students attend the
College, pursuing both undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 170 different programs of study.
Lenox Hill neighborhood of Manhattan from 2001-2003. (Upper East Side)
Lenox Hill is a neighborhood of Manhattan.
The community was named for the farm of Robert Lenox, who owned property from what is now 68th to 74th streets, between
Fifth and Park avenues.
The neighborhood is on the Upper East Side Bounded by East 77th Street, Lexington Avenue, East 60th Street and 5th Avenue.
This area is filled with many luxury apartment buildings, both co-ops and condos, as well eye-catching townhouses. The
elegant and sophisticated neighborhood also has many first rate restaurants and shops on Lexington Avenue as well as
boutiques, art galleries and hotels on Madison Avenue. The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Asia Society and the Frick
Collection are all major cultural attractions located in the heart of Lenox Hill.
A long high bluff fronting the river north of Beekman Place was dotted with fine suburban villas in the 19th century, the last
remaining one being Gracie Mansion, now home of New York's mayors.
The Upper East Side is also notable as a significant source of political fundraising in the United States. Four of the top five zip
codes in the nation for political contributions are in Manhattan. The top ZIP Code, 10021, is on the Upper East Side and
generated the most money for the 2004 presidential campaigns of both George W. Bush and John Kerry.
Madison Avenue from 60th Street well into the 80s is the monied crowd's main shopping strip, recently vaulting ahead of Hong
Kong's Causeway Bay to become the most expensive retail real estate in the world. Zip code 10021 has the highest
concentration of stores in the United States with more than $1 million in annual sales each.
Founded in 1898, and affiliated with what is now NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital since 1927, Weill Medical College of Cornell
University is among the top-ranked clinical and medical research centers in the country. In addition to offering degrees in
medicine, Weill Cornell also has PhD programs in biomedical research and education at the Weill Graduate School of Medical
Sciences, and with neighboring Rockefeller University and the Sloan-Kettering Institute, has established a joint MD-PhD
program for students to intensify their pursuit of Weill Cornell's triple mission of education, research, and patient care.
Founded by John D. Rockefeller, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research was incorporated on June 14, 1901. It was the
first institution in the United States devoted solely to biomedical research--to understanding the underlying causes of disease.
Today, renamed Rockefeller University, it is one of the foremost research centers in the world, contributing to 23 Nobel Prizes
as well as numerous other awards.
In its first century of accomplishment, Rockefeller was a leader in basic scientific research and graduate education. Among
their many breakthroughs, world-renowned scientists at Rockefeller have
• Discovered that genes are made of DNA.
• Found the Rh factor in blood.
• Pioneered the physiology and chemistry of vision.
• Demonstrated the connection between cholesterol and heart disease.
• Developed vaccines against meningitis.
• Introduced methadone to manage heroin addiction.
• Discovered that distribution of proteins to various cellular compartments is accomplished by a "ZIP code" system.
After John D. Rockefeller's grandson died from scarlet fever in January 1901, the capitalist and philanthropist moved to
formalize plans for the research center he had been discussing for three years with his advisor Frederick T. Gates and his son
John D. Rockefeller Jr. At first, the Rockefeller Institute awarded grants to study, among other health concerns, bacteria
contamination in New York City's milk supply. After two years in temporary quarters, laboratories were opened in 1906 on the
site of the former Schermerhorn farm at York Avenue (then called Avenue A) and 66th Street.
In 1955, Rockefeller expanded its mission to include education, admitting its first class of graduate students. It granted its first
doctoral degrees in 1959. In 1965, The Rockefeller Institute became The Rockefeller University, broadening its research
mandate further. In the early 1960s, new faculty with expertise in physics and mathematics came to Rockefeller. In 1972, the
University began its collaboration with Cornell University to offer graduate students an M.D.-Ph.D. program. Later, the Sloan-
Kettering Institute became a partner in the program.
Hunter College, located in the heart of bustling Manhattan, is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY)
system. Founded in 1870, Hunter is also one of the oldest public colleges in the country. Currently, 21,000 students attend the
College, pursuing both undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 170 different programs of study.
In 2003 Mick Maurer then moved to East 27th near Park Avenue South with
Robert Wolf Graf, until 2005. (East Midtown)
The Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan is the area between 23rd Street and 34th Street extending
from the East River to Third Avenue.
Kips Bay was named after a 17th century Dutch farmer, Jacobus Kip. His farm ran from Second
Avenue and 35th street to the East River. At that time, the river formed a bay which was named for him.
This bay was later filled in, yet remains in the name of the area.
Kips Bay was also the site of a battle of the American Revolutionary War that left New York City in the
hands of the British. The British army landed at Kips Bay on September 15th 1776.
Like other neighborhoods in New York City, the boundaries of Kip's Bay are somewhat vague. Often,
Kips Bay is linked to neighboring regions like Murray Hill/Kips Bay, Kips Bay/Midtown East or Kips
Bay/Gramercy.
There are two large apartment buildings in the neighborhood named Kips Bay Towers (designed by
architect I.M. Pei) and many businesses in the neighborhood use the moniker (e.g. Kips Bay
Cinemas, Kips Bay Cleaners, Kips Bay branch of the New York Public Library). Built on a pier above
the East River between 25th and 28th Streets are Waterside Plaza and the United Nations
International School. There were plans to build additional above-water apartment towers in the 1980s,
but environmental concerns doomed them. Today, the waterfront south of Waterside Plaza is
Stuyvesant Cove Park.
The area is dominated by the institutional buildings of New York University's (NYU) medical school
and its hospitals, Rusk, Tisch, Bellevue, and the Manhattan VA Hospital.
Since the late 1990s, the area has been best recognized by a strip of businesnes housed in a
building located at 30th Street, which separated from the street by a driveyway that runs parallel to 2nd
Ave. This strip is referred to as "Kips Bay," which consists of an AMC/Loews theatre, a Borders
bookstore, a Petco location, a Crunch Fitness center, and a 24-hour Rite Aid pharmacy.
There are a large number of ethnically diverse places to eat—from Chinese takeout to any of the
quality Indian establishments lining Lexington Avenue. Curry-in-a-Hurry is a famous one where locals
line up after work or before hitting the bars to grab a bite to go with their beers. Expect to see young
professionals in loosened ties or slingbacks marching with tikka missala in hand to a bar like Rocky
Sullivan’s or Paddy Macguire’s, the former of which hosts a popular, smoke-filled trivia night every
Thursday.
Madison Square is a neighborhood on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan,
centered on a 6.8 acre (2.75 Hectare) public park in the New York City borough of Manhattan, named
for James Madison, fourth President of the United States and co-author of the United States
Constitution[.
The park is bounded by Madison Avenue (which starts at the park's southeast corner), 23rd Street,
26th Street, Fifth Avenue, and a diagonal section of Broadway. Immediately southwest of the park is
the Flatiron Building, one of the oldest of the original New York skyscrapers, and just to its east is the
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower at 1 Madison Avenue (1909), the tallest building in the
world until 1913, when the Woolworth Building was completed. The park is operated and maintained
by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
The square was made famous around the world by Madison Square Garden. The "garden" had
nothing to do with flowers. It was a sports arena located near the square, at 26th Street and Madison
Avenue, designed by the noted Beaux-Arts architect Stanford White. The square was once known as
"Diana's little wooded park" in reference to the bronze statue of the Roman goddess atop the tower of
White's arena. When the arena moved to a new building at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue in 1925 it
kept its old name. (Madison Square Garden, now in its fourth incarnation, is located atop Penn Station
at Seventh Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets).
A major restoration project—spearheaded by the Madison Square Conservancy then completed in
2002—gave this petit, 6.2-acre park a push into modernity. The playground at 25th Street now sports
brightly-colored jungle gyms and slides with an onsite monitor in summer. At the other end, a well-
used dog run competes for your attention along with the Shake Shack, Danny Meyer's outdoor café
serving smallish, L.A.-type burgers, Chicago-style hot dogs, and Grape Crush slushies. In between, a
moderately-sized oval lawn and benches shaded by large trees provide a serene retreat for Gramercy
locals and workers on lunch breaks. Although a sculpture of 19th century Governor William H. Seward
and a rehabilitated fountain make oblique nods to history, this small sanctuary actually does have a
rich past. It was the inaugural location of Madison Square Garden, the founding spot of the New York
Knickerbockers, and the temporary resting place for the damaged arm of Lady Liberty. (From 1876
to1882, while money for the statue was being raised, the torch and appendage awaited repairs here
in the shadows of the Flatiron Building.)
The story of Fourth Avenue, and Park for that matter, is directly related to the history of railroads in the
city. In the early nineteenth century the New York & Harlem Railroad (later bought by New York Central)
needed a place to run it's steam locomotives into the city. The City in turn decided that the still only
planned Fourth Avenue would be the prefect place for that, and the rails went right on down the island.
Eventually however, the city got sick of the noise and dirt and the the trains were forbidden from going
further downtown then 42nd street (which is why Grand Central is where it is).
In the mid to late nineteenth one of the all time great real estate schemes was brought into effect: The
rails leading into Grand Central were to be put underground, and Fourth Avenue would be renamed
the far classier sounding Park Avenue. The plan worked like gangbusters and previously worthless
land became some of the most valuable property in the world. It was so successful, in fact that in 1959
in an attempt to put some of that uptown shine onto Fourth Avenue, the City renamed the stretch from
17th to 32nd Streets Park Avenue South. Which is why if you look around you can still see lots of
signage that says Fourth Avenue.
Robert Wolf Graf, until 2005. (East Midtown)
The Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan is the area between 23rd Street and 34th Street extending
from the East River to Third Avenue.
Kips Bay was named after a 17th century Dutch farmer, Jacobus Kip. His farm ran from Second
Avenue and 35th street to the East River. At that time, the river formed a bay which was named for him.
This bay was later filled in, yet remains in the name of the area.
Kips Bay was also the site of a battle of the American Revolutionary War that left New York City in the
hands of the British. The British army landed at Kips Bay on September 15th 1776.
Like other neighborhoods in New York City, the boundaries of Kip's Bay are somewhat vague. Often,
Kips Bay is linked to neighboring regions like Murray Hill/Kips Bay, Kips Bay/Midtown East or Kips
Bay/Gramercy.
There are two large apartment buildings in the neighborhood named Kips Bay Towers (designed by
architect I.M. Pei) and many businesses in the neighborhood use the moniker (e.g. Kips Bay
Cinemas, Kips Bay Cleaners, Kips Bay branch of the New York Public Library). Built on a pier above
the East River between 25th and 28th Streets are Waterside Plaza and the United Nations
International School. There were plans to build additional above-water apartment towers in the 1980s,
but environmental concerns doomed them. Today, the waterfront south of Waterside Plaza is
Stuyvesant Cove Park.
The area is dominated by the institutional buildings of New York University's (NYU) medical school
and its hospitals, Rusk, Tisch, Bellevue, and the Manhattan VA Hospital.
Since the late 1990s, the area has been best recognized by a strip of businesnes housed in a
building located at 30th Street, which separated from the street by a driveyway that runs parallel to 2nd
Ave. This strip is referred to as "Kips Bay," which consists of an AMC/Loews theatre, a Borders
bookstore, a Petco location, a Crunch Fitness center, and a 24-hour Rite Aid pharmacy.
There are a large number of ethnically diverse places to eat—from Chinese takeout to any of the
quality Indian establishments lining Lexington Avenue. Curry-in-a-Hurry is a famous one where locals
line up after work or before hitting the bars to grab a bite to go with their beers. Expect to see young
professionals in loosened ties or slingbacks marching with tikka missala in hand to a bar like Rocky
Sullivan’s or Paddy Macguire’s, the former of which hosts a popular, smoke-filled trivia night every
Thursday.
Madison Square is a neighborhood on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan,
centered on a 6.8 acre (2.75 Hectare) public park in the New York City borough of Manhattan, named
for James Madison, fourth President of the United States and co-author of the United States
Constitution[.
The park is bounded by Madison Avenue (which starts at the park's southeast corner), 23rd Street,
26th Street, Fifth Avenue, and a diagonal section of Broadway. Immediately southwest of the park is
the Flatiron Building, one of the oldest of the original New York skyscrapers, and just to its east is the
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower at 1 Madison Avenue (1909), the tallest building in the
world until 1913, when the Woolworth Building was completed. The park is operated and maintained
by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
The square was made famous around the world by Madison Square Garden. The "garden" had
nothing to do with flowers. It was a sports arena located near the square, at 26th Street and Madison
Avenue, designed by the noted Beaux-Arts architect Stanford White. The square was once known as
"Diana's little wooded park" in reference to the bronze statue of the Roman goddess atop the tower of
White's arena. When the arena moved to a new building at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue in 1925 it
kept its old name. (Madison Square Garden, now in its fourth incarnation, is located atop Penn Station
at Seventh Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets).
A major restoration project—spearheaded by the Madison Square Conservancy then completed in
2002—gave this petit, 6.2-acre park a push into modernity. The playground at 25th Street now sports
brightly-colored jungle gyms and slides with an onsite monitor in summer. At the other end, a well-
used dog run competes for your attention along with the Shake Shack, Danny Meyer's outdoor café
serving smallish, L.A.-type burgers, Chicago-style hot dogs, and Grape Crush slushies. In between, a
moderately-sized oval lawn and benches shaded by large trees provide a serene retreat for Gramercy
locals and workers on lunch breaks. Although a sculpture of 19th century Governor William H. Seward
and a rehabilitated fountain make oblique nods to history, this small sanctuary actually does have a
rich past. It was the inaugural location of Madison Square Garden, the founding spot of the New York
Knickerbockers, and the temporary resting place for the damaged arm of Lady Liberty. (From 1876
to1882, while money for the statue was being raised, the torch and appendage awaited repairs here
in the shadows of the Flatiron Building.)
The story of Fourth Avenue, and Park for that matter, is directly related to the history of railroads in the
city. In the early nineteenth century the New York & Harlem Railroad (later bought by New York Central)
needed a place to run it's steam locomotives into the city. The City in turn decided that the still only
planned Fourth Avenue would be the prefect place for that, and the rails went right on down the island.
Eventually however, the city got sick of the noise and dirt and the the trains were forbidden from going
further downtown then 42nd street (which is why Grand Central is where it is).
In the mid to late nineteenth one of the all time great real estate schemes was brought into effect: The
rails leading into Grand Central were to be put underground, and Fourth Avenue would be renamed
the far classier sounding Park Avenue. The plan worked like gangbusters and previously worthless
land became some of the most valuable property in the world. It was so successful, in fact that in 1959
in an attempt to put some of that uptown shine onto Fourth Avenue, the City renamed the stretch from
17th to 32nd Streets Park Avenue South. Which is why if you look around you can still see lots of
signage that says Fourth Avenue.
Rob, his mother and Bruno during her visit to
him from Germany. Rob is a German citizen.
him from Germany. Rob is a German citizen.
Chef Frederic of Chez la Chef, another German friend.
